The increasing prevalence of smokeless tobacco use among adolescents has caused concern that tobacco chewing might be adopted as a perceived safe alternative to smoking. The current proposal investigates the social psychological predictors of tobacco chewing initiation as well as its relation to smoking behavior. The bulk of the proposal consists of analyses of an already existing longitudinal data set, collected in the course of earlier studies of adolescent cigarette smoking. This data set includes information on the tobacco chewing and smoking behaviors of approximately 1100 6th-12th graders in a southwestern city. The prevalence and demographic correlates of tobacco chewing over the three year period (1981-1983) chart a natural history of adolescent tobacco use. Moreover, these data can be used to specify the social psychological antecedents of tobacco chewing initiation. Predictor variables from Ajzen & Fishbein's model, and Jessor & Jessor's problem behavior theory, as well as measures of adolescents' smoking environment will be used to predict prospectively the onset of tobacco chewing behavior. Finally, this longitudinal data set will be used to trace the relation between cigarette smoking and smokeless forms of tobacco use. The results of these studies will be used to draw implications for intervention and prevention programs. These data will identify the variables that promote or deter initiation as well as describing the risk adolescent who should be the target audience for intervention campaigns. The analyses of the relation between smoking and chewing tobacco will also have important intervention implications. Some promising prevention programs been developed to deter adolescent cigarette smoking. The current data will help determine whether similar campaigns should also be effective with smokeless use or whether different types of interventions are warranted. The second goal of the proposal is to investigate the role of social image factors in adolescent tobacco chewing. The social image studies will identify the particular social image benefits to which adolescents may aspire by their chewing behavior. These characteristics are important components of intervention programs which attempt to provide adolescents with alternative ways for reaching their social goals.